Kenya tops growth of new investments into Africa

A banking hall in the KCB Rwanda branch. Kenya's main investments in the eastern Africa region and the rest of the continent have been in the banking sector, retail stores, and cement industry, oil marketing among others. File

By RAWLINGS OTINIPosted
Friday, May 4
2012 at
10:42

Kenya has been ranked top among the countries with the highest growth in new investment projects into Africa in the last four years to 2011, ahead of South Africa and Nigeria.

New projects from Kenya and Nigeria into the rest of the continent have grown at a faster rate than from anywhere else in the world during the same period at 77.8 per cent and 73.2 per cent respectively, according to the latest findings by Ernst and Young.

“The growth in intra-African investment is being led by the respective regional powerhouses of Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa,” said the financial advisory firm in its second African Attractiveness Survey.

South Africa’s investments into the rest of Africa have grown at a rate of 64.8 per cent in the four years to 2011.

Corporate Kenya has in the recent past increased her investment both in the Eastern African region and the rest of the continent. The main investments have been in the banking sector, retail stores, and cement industry, oil marketing among others.

Kenyan banks have solidified their grip on the regional market with the indigenous banks such as Equity Bank, Cooperative Bank, and Kenya Commercial Bank spreading their footprint in almost all the neighbouring countries.

India, however, led the rest of the world by the number of new jobs created in Kenya followed by UK, US, China and Spain.

In the eight years to 2011, South Korea lead in new projects which grew at 82 per cent with Kenya coming second and India in the third place.

The top five investors into Kenya by new foreign direct investments (FDI) projects in the same period were the US, India, UK, South Africa and Japan.

This data, however, shows the number of new projects and not the value of the projects. The report did not capture mergers and acquisitions and other equity investments and had no minimum size for a project to be included, every project has to create new direct jobs.